Do you ever?

While your husband is away, do you ever get the overwhelming feeling that you just HAVE to tell him that you love him? I have that feeling tonight. I'm not sure if it's due to hormones, him just being away, or something else. I can't explain it, but I just have this overwhelming urge to tell him I love him. So, I sent him an email because I can't just go and call him, but it just isn't the same. I guess the email will have to do.

On other news, Little L has been great this week when I've dropped him off at the Y daycare. The last time I took him there, he threw a huge fit, this week Little L didn't shed a tear, actually it was hard to get him to leave both nights. I was so proud of him!!! 

Tonight Little L also did good at my friend's parents house. He played well and listened pretty good. I think he really enjoyed riding in the go carts and playing in the pool. He even ate his entire dinner without a peep. He sure does love to play with his little friend. They are too cute together! Baby E was quite fussy tonight for some reason. Of course once we got home she was all happy and giggly again.

I'm looking forward to this weekend. I have nothing planned for Saturday, and Sunday I get to go out with my girlfriends and see The Hunger Games!!! I cannot wait! I loved the books, I just hope the movie is as good as the books.

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Trooppaws-Super cute

I was checking the blogs I hadn't read yet today and came across Skinnie Piggie's blog and she is doing a TroopPaws giveaway. Now let me tell you I went over to the blog for TroopPaws and they are SUPER CUTE!!!!! I think this is a great way to give back and would be a great gift to someone who is dealing with a deployment. If you get a chance, visit both pages. I think my Little L would love one of these!

Cute, right?

Go check them out!

Swimming and family fun

We had a good day today. My Aunt P came down from Georgia for a visit this weekend and my mom turned the heat on in her pool, so we decided to take Little L swimming. He learned how to swim last summer and it was great to see he didn't forget. He was soooooo happy, he's been asking to go swimming ALL. WINTER. LONG. We went swimming, then had a great lunch outside, then swam some more. Needless to say, Little L is one tired little boy. He's happily sleeping right now. Baby E is laying on the floor next to me cooing away. She's a very happy baby. My Aunt P really enjoyed being able to play with Little L and Baby E this weekend. Little L wasted no time in getting my Aunt P to build blocks with him and play outside. I just wish my husband had been here to enjoy today with us, but he will be getting lots of videos and pictures.

"I'm ready mom, can we PLEASE go now?!?"

Cool dude swimming

Happy baby laying next to me

I hope you all had a great Sunday as well!!!!!

Thursday Song Link-Up

Ok so it took me FOREVER to find a YouTube video for the song I wanted to use this week. So, please ignore the pictures in the video and just listen to the song. It's a really good song!
My husband called me this weekend and told me I needed to listen to a song because he had been listening to it a lot lately and it reminded him of me. So, I found the song and listened to it, and boy was he right! My husband is VERY much more country than I am. He would rather live out in the sticks on a large piece of land than in the city, he hates being in big crowds, he enjoys hunting, mudding, etc. When we first met on e-harmony he had a picture of himself on a 4-wheeler covered in mud....let me tell you I was a little concerned with what I was getting myself into, but I was intrigued by him so I went for it. I am so glad I did! That was one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life!
The part of the song that reminded me of me was the part about sitting in the rocking chair and having the first June Bug buzzing by her head, that is so me. I don't like any kind of bug, and I don't like when they get near me, but I would brave the bugs to be near him and spend time with him.
I hope you enjoy the song. Don't forget to link up with Goodnight Moon!

Thank you!

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who left super sweet comments on my post from last night. It really meant a lot to me. So thank you all very much!

I am happy to announce all is back to normal. Little L is back to his old self, laughing talking and playing. Hopefully bed time will go on without a hitch. :)

Dinner went well, we actually ate at the table and Little L seemed to really enjoy it. We have always eaten in front of the TV (I know, it's horrible) and Little L was at hi Little Tykes table, but I started having issues of him eating his entire dinner and such. So, I thought this would fix it, plus I've always wanted to have dinners at the table, but for some reason hadn't started it until now. Ah well, better late than never. :)

Again thank you to everyone! I'm super glad things are back to normal....I was even able to make it to the gym tonight. :)

How can one parent be enough?

How can one person be enough to help a child not feel the loss of one parent not being here? This is the question I am struggling with tonight.
My husband and I have known for awhile that Little L has some abandonment issues, but they haven't been too severe, that is until tonight.
Today started out good. Little L was so cute on the way to daycare, just chatting up a storm and Baby E was cooing in her carseat. Neither one gave a hoot that I was leaving them at daycare. I picked them both up after school and again both still in a good mood. Half way home Little L just starts crying. I don't mean the whining that he does sometimes, I mean flat out crying with big ole tears. I asked him what was wrong and all he could tell me was "dada dada" over and over again. As my heart is breaking for him, I reminded him that daddy loves him and misses him, that he's "playing army" (that's what we call it for him to understand what is going on) and will be home when his job is done. All he did was nod at that and continue to pout and sniff. We made it home finally, he watched a little sprout, played with his trains while I fed Baby E and made dinner. He had a melt down when the TV was turned off, which resulted in a time out when his melt down turned into a fit. Finally he calmed down, we play some more, almost have another fit, when I convince him it's bath time. He ran into his room to climb up on the crib and wake Baby E (for some reason he LOVES doing this) and we all went into the bathroom for bath time. He played great in the tub, pouring water over his own head and playing with his duckies. We're doing good after bath time, he got a cup of milk and a few more minutes of sprout while I fed Baby E her bed time bottle. Finally it's time for bed. He grabs his blankie, his cup and toddles to our bedroom, where he proceeds to get up into our bed (yes he falls asleep in our bed, then is transferred to his own bed when I'm ready to finally go to sleep, I know it's weird, but it works for us at the moment). I tell him I love him, daddy loves him and it's night night time and sweet dreams. I turn off the light and come back out into the living room and I'm reading a book when he starts calling for me. I tell him I love him and good night from the living room and then proceed to stop talking to him. He continues to call.......finally he just starts sobbing. I walk in there remind him that I love him, daddy loves him and that it's night night time. He has cried so hard he has the hiccups. I leave again and the sobbing starts again. We are now at the point where he almost makes himself sick because he's crying so hard. My heart is breaking for him, so I go back in and rock him until he calms down. He finally lays back in our bed and he proceeds to pull on my arm until I lay down next to him. He wraps his little arms around my neck and buries his face underneath my head, where he finally falls asleep. I don't know, maybe I was wrong to go back in the room and I should have let him cry himself to sleep. But tonights crying was different from his normal fits he throws when he doesn't want to go to bed.
I have no idea what brought all of this on for him tonight. Today started off like any normal day. Nothing has really changed, other than my dad coming to visit for a few days over spring break. But he's gone to bed great three nights since my dad left.
I just don't know what to do, I want to be a good mom and I want to be enough for him so he doesn't feel his daddy's absence. I know he misses his daddy, they are like two peas in a pod when they are together, but how do you get a 2 1/2 year old to understand that daddy didn't leave because he wanted to, but he had to go because of his job? How can one parent keep their child from hurting and be enough for them until daddy is home again? I just wish I knew.

Military Monday-Blog Hop

Welcome! Thank you for stopping by!!!

Girls Night Out

I made the decision the other day to join my friend S out for her bachelorette party last night. It was the first time I had been out to the bar with the girls in over a year. So, the husband and I decided it would probably be a good way to unwind and have some fun. I did have fun, until we left the first bar. I was a little nervous riding in the limo with everyone because S likes to stay out until the bars close and I'm more likely to want to leave around 11. Nothing good ever happens after midnight. :) But I went in the limo, which was fun, we had jello shots and champagne on the way there. We arrived at the first bar called Joyland and let me tell you it was super fun! I had never been there before, it's a large country bar. The live band was REALLY good and it was a great place to people watch. It sure had an eclectic group of people there. There were the country people, the people who thought they were country and weren't, and then there were a few dressed for a more "clubbing" bar, one girl I swear if she moved wrong her boobs were going to pop out of her tiny black dress. Anyways. It was a lot of fun.



The Glenallen Girls before heading out (Don't mind how horrible I look)



S and some of the girls on stage with the band



The girls at Joyland

Then the girls decided they wanted to go to the Key (Siesta Key)....here's a little back story of the Key. When I first moved down here I met S where I worked. We were both new teachers and just bonded quite quickly. We went out almost every weekend. Most Saturday nights were spent at the Beach Club, it's a great place to go dancing. Once 11:30 hits the stupid people come out, the bar gets crowded and it just loses its fun. So, I've spent a lot of time there, and had a lot of fun nights there, but it just doesn't hold the same appeal anymore. I enjoy the more quiet, less crowded bars (not that I ever go out). Boy this sure makes me feel old. Hehe! So, when they said they wanted to go to the Beach Club I was a little apprehensive, but I went for her. Needless to say we waited in line, paid our cover charge and made our way into a super crowded club. We danced for about a half hour when something snapped in S and she wanted to leave. Really?!?! I just paid $5 for a half hour, gee thanks. So we go across the street to the less crowded bar and she proceeds to lock herself in the bathroom, crying. Can you see where this is going? When she comes out all she will tell us is she's tired of selfish people, and she's so over it. Over what I'm not sure. I really think she was expecting this amazing night and I don't think it lived up to her standards, not because everyone wasn't making a HUGE effort for her, but because I think she had unrealistic expectations. We are older now, some of us are married, some have kids and we have all moved on from the drunken nights at the bar. She is also used to going out to the bars and getting all of this male attention, she got none last night. Now what guy in his right mind is going to come up to a group of 10 girls and start talking to one of them, especially a bachelorette who is obviously getting married? By the end of the night she was a drunken hot mess, who ended up throwing up in the limo. All I kept thinking at the end of the night was, 7am and a hungry baby are going to come REALLY early. Don't get me wrong, I had fun, until about 11:30, then it just became a hot mess.

I am also really worried about her. I am afraid she might be making a mistake. Trying to tell her this, she of course won't listen. She is getting married in May. She has never lived with him, or spent more than 10 days at a time with him. He lives 4 hours away. I know long distance relationships can work, but I'm afraid she doesn't know the real him. She is quitting her job, picking up her life and moving away. Not because they came to the joint decision for her to move there, it was more he said she moved or they were done. Now to me, I would be concerned if my future husband wasn't willing to talk about a situation that was really important to both people. This decision may come back to bite him in the butt. She hasn't even started looking for a job yet. Teaching jobs used to be easy to find, but today, they aren't so much and there is a lot of competition for each job. She also likes being the center of attention and I don't know what's going to happen to her when she moves to a town where she knows no one. Also, I have seen him a handful of times, two of those times were at weddings where he was a drunken idiot. The first time my husband met him was at our wedding, he showed up drunk then proceed to keep drinking. He kept coming up to her at the head table while we were eating and rubbing her shoulders, getting her drinks she didn't ask for and just being an idiot. Not a great first impression. The second wedding was for a mutual friend, the groom was one of his good friends and of course he was drunk, touching other girls and just being an annoying idiot. S wasn't at that wedding because her friend was getting married the same day and she was in the wedding party. I pray for her sake everything works out and that she is happy and she proves me wrong, but I am just worried about her.

I will tell you, I am no longer young. Last night kicked my butt and I am paying for it today. And I didn't even drink that much. Geeze! I will tell you I am going to lose this baby weight, buy myself a pair of cute jean shorts and I'm going to make my lovely husband take me to Joyland when he gets home. If you're ever in the Sarasota area, you must check it out, it's super fun!!!! Thankfully the whole night wasn't a bust. :)





Yummy dinner

I am by no means a great cook, or even enjoy cooking for that matter. But I decided while my husband was away I would learn to cook and start eating at home more. I decided this first because I need to lose this baby weight and second because I want my children, my husband and I to eat better. So recently I have started working out with my neighbor down the road two days a week and I have been eating at home 95% of the time. I am pretty proud of myself. I have also cut the junk food from our home, that way I'm not tempted to eat it when I'm stressed out.
Anyways the reason for this post was to share a dinner that I made recently because I am so darn proud of myself. :)
It's really easy. I started off marinating chicken in Italian dressing over night, then grilling it. I then took two bell peppers and cut them up.

Don't they look pretty? You could add whatever veggies you want, but I like these in my stir frys. :)
Next I cut up the chicken
Then put the bell peppers in the wok and cooked for a min or two, I like mine crunchy.

I cooked the noodles in a separate pan. I use bow tie pasta with this one, it makes it really easy to eat, but I'm sure you could use any type that appealed to you.
Then I added the chicken for about a min
Once those were together I added the Philadelphia Cooking Sauce that I found in the grocery store. I used the Savory garlic, they have four different flavors and they can be found where the cream cheese is located.

I stirred this around for about a min or two until everything was coated, added the noddles and stirred to coat.

Finished product

Now let me remind you I am no chef by any means, but this meal was super easy to make. I think it took all of 20 min to throw together. This is my kind of meal, few ingredients, fast and easy. I hope you enjoy if you try it. :)

3 months

Holy cow! I cannot believe our little girl is 3 months old today. Where has the time gone? She is such a happy baby, talking and laughing at herself. She loves watching Little L play and make faces at her. She is sleeping through the night still and takes at least 2 naps a day, sometimes more, sometimes less. Baby E is such a sweet baby and now it seems like she has always been a part of our family.

Talking

Little L loves his baby sister

I can't wait to see how she will change in the coming months.

Thursday song Link-Up

This week I picked Watching You by Rodney Atkins. Every time I hear this song it makes me think of M and Little L. You would not believe that Little L mimics EVERYTHING my husband does. He doesn't do this with me, only daddy.
This song also makes me tear up every time because I just love watching Little L and my husband together. They are too cute!
It also reminds me of my husband because of the Jeep. My husband had a jeep before we met when he lived in Kentucky, but due to a horrible accident he no longer had the Jeep. He told me since the day we started dating that one day he would have another one. Well, he has finally purchased a 1994 Jeep to fix up. I can't wait for him to fix it up and then we can start driving it (or I can once I learn how to drive a stick)

Don't forget to link up with Goodnight Moon and share your song!

An amazing post

I saw the link to this post on Amy D's page at Guarded My Life as an ArmyWife. It really hit home, while I'm not an active duty wife it still gave me the strength to make it through yet another day without my husband. It sure did make me cry, but it was so true. You can read the post HERE.

I really hope you enjoy this post. We are all amazing women! I really don't think I am that strong of a person. I just think that I have to put my big girl panties on and keep moving. :) It's just something I have to do, and to be honest I wouldn't change it for the world, because to change it would mean not being married to my husband, and I'm not OK with that. It was funny some of my students were asking questions about my husband, asking when the last time I saw him, when I was likely to see him again, and one girl said, I feel sorry for you. I asked her why and she told me because he isn't home with you. I told her yes it's sad and lonely without him here, but that I am so proud of him and proud to be married to him that I wouldn't change it for anything.

Hopefully I will hear from him soon. I miss hearing his voice.

Sunshine Award!

I was tagged in the Sunshine award by Melissa at Home is wherever the Army sends us.

 

 

Favorite color: blue

Favorite animal: I love cheetahs. Did you know they are the only large cat to purr? Cool huh?

Favorite number: It would be 8, I think I started liking the number because it was the jersey number of a boy I liked, then it turned into my lucky number and it kind of stuck ;)

Favorite non-alcoholic drink: Pepsi, boring I know, but I don't like coffee or tea :)

Facebook or Twitter: Facebook. I refuse to join Twitter, no offense, it's just not for me.

My passion: being the best mother and wife I can be, also teaching

Getting or giving presents: Giving

Favorite pattern: I don't really have one, maybe stripped but it depends on the colors

Favorite day of the week: Saturday

Favorite flower: hydrangeas or blue roses

I tag:

Janna at Perception is Everything
Monica at The musings of lil moo moo
Jenn at Life with the Lieutenant
Amanda at Somewhere over the Camo

It's Fixed!!!!!

I have to give a BIG, HUGE thank you to Cierra at Blogovation Design who fixed my blog. I'm not sure if anyone noticed that my blog wasn't working this week, it kept going to some strange search engine. Cierra came to my rescue and fixed it. She is amazing. If anyone wants to update their blog layout, see her, she is amazing!!!!! Thanks Cierra!!!!

Thursday Song Link-up

I'm linking up with Goodnight Moon for this weeks Song Link-up.
You may wonder why I chose this particular song, it isn't really a song, it's a commerical for The Big Bang Theory around Valentine's day. I know it isn't Valentine's day or even February anymore, but I am newly obsessed with the Big Bang Theory and this commercial kept putting a smile on my face every time I saw it. So I thought I would share it with you all. I hope you enjoy and that it puts a smile on your face as well!!!!! Happy Thursday!

Military Monday Blog Hop

Hello to new readers or followers from Military Monday, here is a little bit of information about me:

My name is Kathryn, I am married to a Officer in the Army Reserves, he is my best friend. Currently he is in the sand box, we are going through our 1st deployment.

I gave birth to our daughter in December, we also have a son who is 2 1/2 years old.

I am a middle school Social Studies teacher. I am back to work now after my too short maternity leave.

I love making new friends

So leave some comments so I can come follow you back

Other news. I watched the season opener of Army Wives last night. I was pretty excited to watch it and even more excited that my kids were cooperative and were in bed by the time it started. :) Yea! I thought the show was pretty good. I was wondering how they were going to keep the show going if everyone was moving away. Now I know. I've loved this show since it started, and that was before I even met my husband and became an Army Wife. What did you all think of the show?

So Thankful

Oh my goodness! I just have to say thank you to all of the people out there reading my little blog and leaving me comments. It really means the world to me, especially to see your kind, heartfelt, inspirational and witty comments. It really makes me feel more connected to the Army wife world. It's hard to feel apart of things living so far away from a base. But knowing others are going through the same thing as me, makes me feel a little less alone in this.
So, to all of you who read my little blog, please know that I truly appreciate you and am so thankful I have "met" each of you. :)
I also need to thank my other friends that have helped to keep me sane through this deployment. Having people to spend time with and talk to helps to make things a little easier. I miss my husband dearly, but am so thankful that we are finally past our 6 month mark!!!! We are finally on the downward end of this deployment and I cannot wait for him to be home with us again!

Thank you to each one of you for helping me make it through this time in my life. I am truly grateful for each one of you! 

Milspouse Friday Fill-in

1. What is your favorite/most unique anniversary/birthday gift from your spouse? suggested by Bel at Being a Better Me
I think my favorite anniversary/birthday gift from my spouse would be having him just spending the day with me. We haven't spent that many anniversaries or birthdays together due to the military, so just being together would mean the world to me.
2. What’s your first thought when you see it’s snowing (or what would you say if you don’t live somewhere with snow? suggested by Poekitten from Many Waters
When I used to live in Michigan (where I grew up) as a kid I would think "yes! Maybe a snow day!" When I got older and lived in Kalamazoo for college I would think "Aw crap! I'm not walking to class in that!", then after college it was "You've got to be kidding me, I'm gonna be late because I have to dig out my car". I am a very happy camper that I live in a state that doesn't get any snow.
3. What’s one thing in the past month you would have changed?  suggested by Erika from Chambanachik
That I would have started eating better and working out more. I have to get this weight off and feel like it's going to take forever!
4.What was your favorite thing that happened in February? 
Being able to hang out with my good army wife friend before she moves away. Also having it over so that we are one month closer to my husband coming home. Horrible isn't it? I guess another good thing is that I went back to work and my students were actually happy to see me, which is amazing because up until then they thought I was the meanest teacher. :)
5. What are you looking forward to in March?
Spring break and getting to see my daddy for a whole week. Also the end and being one more month closer to the husband coming home. :) Do you see a pattern?